EU Regulators Accuse Apple Of Breaching New Digital Competition Rules

European Union regulators on Monday levelled the first charges against giant phone maker Apple under new digital competition rules. The EU accuses Apple of preventing users from switching to cheaper alternatives outside its app store. The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, cited the initial results of its preliminary investigation and said that Apple’s restrictions on developers using its mobile app store violate the group’s Digital Markets Act.

The Digital Competition Manual (DMA), provides for heavy financial penalties to deter major technology companies from targeting digital markets. It was implemented in March. Under this, the European Commission has launched a preliminary round of investigation against iPhone maker Apple. A separate investigation is already underway against Apple over whether it is taking sufficient steps to allow users to easily switch web browsers. The other cases under DMA involve Google and Meta.

The European Commission said that the rules of the iPhone App Store prevent app developers from freely directing consumers to alternative channels for offerings and content. Apple will now have to respond to these findings of the European Commission. The Commission will take a final decision on this matter by March 2025. If found guilty of violating competition rules, the American company may have to pay a fine of up to 10 percent of its global revenue, which will be equivalent to billions of euros.

The Commission has maintained pressure on Apple and has also started a new investigation into the terms of the contract being given by it to app developers. In this case, Apple Inc said that in the last several months it has made many changes to comply with the new rules in response to the feedback received from developers and the European Commission. The company said in a statement, “We are confident that our plan complies with this law and estimate that more than 99 percent of developers will pay the same or less fees to Apple under our new business terms. ”

As per the report of ABC News, app makers such as Spotify had complained for years about Apple’s requirement that subscriptions only be bought through iOS apps. The American company, Apple, takes a commission of up to 30 percent. These complaints resulted in European regulators slapping Apple with a $2 billion (Rs 166 billion) fine for favouring its music platforms over Spotify and other rivals.